Relative Clauses

RELATIVE CLAUSES

DEFINITION

To give more information about a noun we normally use adjectives before it:

E.g.: The house costs $45.000. It is green and big. > The big green house costs $45.000.

However, the information about the noun is sometimes more complicated:

E.g.: The house costs $45.000. It was built on King Street.

In this case we normally use after the noun a relative clause that functions like an adjective:

E.g.: The house which was built on King Street costs $45.000

TYPES OF RELATIVE CLAUSES

Defining Relative Clauses:

E.g.: The man who plays the piano lives in King Street.

In this sentence the relative clause defines or identifies the man we are talking about.

Non-Defining Relative Clauses:

E.g. Mr Gallagher, who plays the piano, lives in King Street.

In the second sentence the relative clause does not define or identify the person, but simple adds a piece of information about it.

There are important differences between both types in the use of relative pronouns. Besides, Non-Defining Relative clauses are separated from the rest of the sentence by pauses in speech and by commas in writing.

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

A defining clause gives essential information. It tells us which person or thing we are talking about.

E.g.: The man is looking for a wife. The man put an ad in the paper.

> The man who put an ad in the paper is looking for a wife.

A) The defining clause cannot be removed from the sentence, otherwise, we do not know which man is referred to.

E.g.: The woman is a professor. She lives across the road.

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B) Defining relative clauses generally come right after the noun they define, however, they may be separated in some cases:

E.g.: I saw a woman on Saturday. She says she knows you.

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C) We use who in a relative clause when we are talking about people (not things). We use who instead of he / she / they…

E.g. The salesman cheated me. He sold me this video.

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E.g. Here is the hotel. It was recommended to us.

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We use which when we are talking about things.

E.g.: Where is the cheese? It was in the fridge.

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Here is the hotel. It was recommended to us.

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D) We prefer that to which or who after words like only, all, everything, something, anything, nothing, none, little, few, much and after superlative forms (the best…)

E.g. The only thing that matters to him is winning.

She is the best secretary that has ever worked here.

Exercise 1.- Join the two sentences into one using a relative pronoun.

1. She is the tallest girl. She studies at the high school.

2. She wrote a short story. It was published last year.

3. I know the man. He lives next door to you.

4. Pupils will succeed. They work hard.

5. The boy is my cousin. He is playing tennis.

6. She bought a computer. It cost a lot of money.

E) A Relative pronoun can be the subject of the clause.

E.g. The man comes from London. He has bought the house.

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The photo was of a farmhouse. It took first prize.

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A relative pronoun can also be the object of the clause.

E.g. The people were fun to be with. I met them at the party.

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I read an excellent book. Mark Twain’s wrote it

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We use who / whom (formal) instead of him, her, them…, and we usually leave out the relative.

Exercise 2.- Join the sentences and omit the relative when necessary.

1. The woman is here to see you. She phoned yesterday for an appointment.

2. The car runs quite well. Ronald sold us the car.

3. I’d like to see the shoes. They are on sale.

4. Where are the pencils? I bought you the pencils yesterday.

5. The river is very deep. The river runs by my house.

6. The book was well written. I read it last month.

7. I recognize the man. My mother mentioned him yesterday.

8. She remembered my birthday. She was the only one to do so.

F) When we use verbs followed by a preposition, the preposition usually comes at the end of the relative clause.

E.g.: I talked to the girl. I was sitting next to her in the lecture.

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The decision is very difficult to make. We are talking about it.

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In formal and written English, we can put the preposition before the relative pronoun. In this case, we use whom or which and we can’t omit them.

Exercise 3.- Combine these sentences. Write two sentences for each pair.

1. The girl was very pretty. I danced with her.

2. The bed was uncomfortable. I was sleeping on it.

3. The village was 10 kilometres away. I was travelling to that village.

4. He paid the man. His sister had borrowed the money from him.

5. The song is sung by Elvis Presley. We are listening to it.

6. The novel is about the Second World War. I’m very interested in it.

7. Sarah joined the youth group. I belong to it.

8. The man thanked me. I did some work for him.

9. I read the book. We had argued about it the week before.

10. The issue is very problematic. There is a great deal of discussion about it.

Exercise 4.- Combine the sentences below. Use the relative only when necessary.

1. The chef is world-famous. You were referring to it.

2. I enjoyed the dinner. Mrs Jones prepared it.

3. The alarm clock didn’t ring. It was broken.

4. The castle stands above the town. It was built by the Normans.

5. My daughter brings friends home. Some of the friends look as though they never wash.

6. I dropped a television. It never worked again.

7. I shouted at the man. He didn’t come back again.

8. I borrowed some money from Janice. I lost it.

9. I sacked a sales assistant. I had a terrible argument with him.

10. I asked a policeman. He wasn’t very helpful.

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Exercise 5.- Complete the text using who, which or that and put --- if no relative pronoun is necessary.

The film ……. I saw last night wasn’t very good. It was about a woman ……. could see into the future. Her name was Petra. She lived in a house ……. was full of strange objects – pieces of rock ……. came from the Moon, dinosaur bones ……. she’d found in the Arizona desert and beautiful pieces of crystal ……. had been found in the Andes. The people……. came to see her wanted to know about their future. One day a young man ……. felt he had no future came to see her. He was the kind of man ……. Petra found very attractive. The things ……. she told him really surprised him. She said he was going to get married in two months’ time. Marriage was something ……. he’d never wanted. She said the woman ……. he would marry was beautiful and intelligent. He was mystified and came to see Petra every day. He really enjoyed the time …….he spent with her. He realized that she was the only woman …….could make him happy. After two months they got married! What a surprise!

G) We often use the possessive whose in relative clauses instead of his / her / their… It is always followed by a noun.

E.g.:

My neighbor is the woman. Her dog attacked the postman.

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He is the man. I saw his young son drinking whisky in the pub.

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She owns the house. Its garden looks like a jungle.

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H) We can use where in a relative clause to talk about a place.

E.g.:

I like the club. We can go and meet friends there.

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I recently went back to the town. I was born there.

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I recently went back to the town. I was born in the town.

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I) We use other relatives:

When / That referring to time.

E.g.: Do you still remember the day (when / that) we met?

I haven’t seen them since the year (when / that) they got married.

Why = for which.

E.g.: The reason (why / that) I’m phoning you is to invite you to a party.

What = the thing that.

E.g.: I gave him what he needed.

What she said made me angry.

*** Everything that I have is yours. (NOT everything what)

Exercise 7.- Write the correct relative in the gaps.

1. I’m asking you the reason ……. You did that.

2. This is the field ……. We had a picnic last year.

3. I have marked the space ……you must sign.

4. We have not fixed the date …….we’ll start our holidays.

5. Give me the reason…….you have not done your homework.

6. They showed me the room …….the murder took place.

7. It is past the time …….the children should be in bed.

8. I can’t find ……. I want here.

Exercise 8.- A detective is interviewing Mark Knott about a crime that took place on Thursday evening. Complete the sentences using what or that or --- if not word is necessary.

Detective:	Tell me again …….happened on Thursday.
Mark:	I’ve told you everything ……. I know. I was at home all day.
Detective:	That isn’t ……. you said a moment ago.
Mark:	Well, I stayed in the house all evening. That’s all ……. I can say. I can tell you ……. I watched on television. I can describe all the programmes ……. I watched.
Detective:	But you can’t prove it, can you? Listen! We simply want the truth!

Exercise 9.- Fill in with who, why, where, when, which, whose or ---.

Dear Mum and Dad,

Hi! Well here’s my news. The day ……. I arrived I felt very lonely. I am very happy now though, because the college ……. I am studying has a computer course. On Wednesday the boy …….room I share had a party. It was great fun! Thursday was good. The man ……. Teaches us Biology forgot to come so we had some free time! Friday wasn’t so great. I missed a lecture. The reason ……. I missed it was that I was ill in bed. The photograph ……. I’m sending you was taken on the day ……. I arrived, while I was waiting for the bus. I’ll have to catch up on my work, so I must go now! Write soon.

Exercise 10.- Join the following sentences using a relative only if necessary.

1. This is the time of the year. The flowers appear then.

2. I know the teacher. His house is round the corner.

3. Show me the hotel. You were staying there.

4. Show me the hotel. You were staying at it.

5. Do you remember the day? You car broke down on the motorway that day.

6. The man is my father. You gave the letter to him.

7. I can’t understand the reason. They haven’t come because of that.

8. These are all the exercises. You have done them.

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES.

A non-defining relative clause gives extra information. It doesn’t identify the person or thing we are talking about.

E.g.: Elvis Presley earned millions of dollars. He died in 1977.

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We already knew who Elvis Presley was, even without the information given in the relative clause.

Compare:

Defining - We do not use commas (,) … We know a lot of people who live in London - We can use that … Do you know anyone that speaks Italian? …Towns which attract tourists are expensive - We can leave out the relative ...The man we saw is my neighbor. …Have you seen the book I was reading? …What’s the name of the man you work for?

Non-defining - We use commas (,) …My brother Jim, who lives in London, is a doctor. - We can’t use that. … John, who speaks Italian, is a tourist guide. … New York, which attracts many tourists, is very expensive. - We cannot leave out the relative. ...John, who/whom we saw, is my neighbor. …”Hamlet”, which I was reading, is very good. …Mr Bone, for whom Liz works, is here. …Mr Bone, who/whom Liz works for, is here.

We can use whose, where.

The man whose car was stolen had to stay the night.

Mr Webster, whose car was stolen, had to stay the night.

I like the city where I spent my last holiday.

I like Paris where I spent my last holidays.

Exercise 11.- Fill in the relative pronoun. Put commas where necessary.

1. Mr Brown …….teaches us French comes from London.

2. The girl ……. I met on the bus looks just like my sister.

3. Peter Smith …….had an accident is in hospital.

4. The apples …….grow on these trees are delicious.

5. This apple pie ……. I made yesterday tastes great.

6. The film ……. I saw on TV last night was very sad.

7. My friend Alex …….is a doctor works very long hours.

8. John …….father is a lawyer has moved to Paris.

9. The sports centre …….we play tennis is expensive.

10. The vase ……. Mother gave me got broken.

11. The summer ……. I went to Spain I got really sunburnt.

12. The car …….tyres are flat is mine.

13. The café ……. I first met my husband has closed down now.

14. Simon ……. Mother is a vegetarian doesn’t eat meat.

15. The baker’s …….is by my house sells wonderful pies.

Exercise 12.- Join the sentences using a relative only if necessary.

1. They sent a new teacher. I really liked her.

2. The man looks frightened. He is standing at the bus stop.

3. The ice cream was delicious. I bought it yesterday.

4. This is the music. I’ve listened to it many times.

5. Here is the photograph of the hotel. We stayed there for a long weekend.

6. I will never forget the day. My eldest son was born that day.

7. You can see many animals in Kenya. Some of them are very dangerous.

8. Mr Carter is my friend. His house was damaged during the earthquake.

9. That is Alan Weeks. I spoke to him this morning.

10. Ann is very friendly. She lives next door.

11. We stayed at the Grand Hotel. Ann recommended it to us.

12. Sheila is away from homw a lot. Her job involves a lot of travelling.

13. A woman lives next door. She’s a doctor.

14. I’ve got a brother called Jim. He lives in London. He is a doctor.

15. I was looking for a book this morning. I’ve found it now.

16. London was once the largest city in the world, but the population is now falling.

17. Margaret has a son. She showed me a photograph of him. He is a policeman.

18. Mary has three brothers. All of them are married.

19. They asked me a lot of questions. I couldn’t answer most of them.

20. I have sent her two letters. She has received neither of these letters.

21. Mr Rucker is very interested in our plan. I spoke to him on the phone last night.

22. Norman won $22.000. He gave half of this to his parents.

SPECIAL USE OF WHICH

We can use which to refer to the whole of the main clause. Compare:

Ø They climbed Snowdon, which is the highest mountain in Wales (“which” refers to the mountain).

Ø They climbed Snowdon, which made them very tired (“which” refers to the fact that they climbed the mountain)

Exercise 13.- Underline the words which refers to.

1. Maria sang and played the guitar, which everyone enjoyed a lot.

2. The boat stopped at Sousse, which is in Tunisia.

3. The coach stopped at a petrol station, which allowed everyone to get out.

4. We listened to the news, which was in French.

5. Henrry VIII executed two of his wives, which shows he was cruel.

6. It rained all night, which did the garden good.

Exercise 14.- Join these pairs of sentences using which.

1. They stayed for hours. I was very annoyed about this.

2. John didn’t want to marry Susan. This surprised everybody.

3. He passes all his exams. This surprised us.

4. They forgot about my birthday. This was a big disappointment.

FINAL EXERCISE: Combine the following sentences to make defining or non-defining relative clauses.

1. Ann Hargreaves is very friendly. She runs the bookshop.
2. They live in a beautiful old house. It was built 300 years ago.
3. Groucho Marx died in 1977. He was a famous comedian.
4. This is Tony. You will be driving with him next week.
5. We saw the cottage. Wordsworth lived there.
6. John is my friend. His car was stolen from the car park.
7. Shakespeare is one of the best-known writers in the world. He is buriend in Stratford-upon-Avon.
8. Mr. Gresham is my neighbour. His house was damaged in the fire.
9. You sent me a present. Thank you very much for it.
10. She was dancing with a student. He had a light limp.
11. I’m looking after some children. They are terribly spoilt.
12. The bed has no mattress. I sleep on this bed.
13. Romeo and Juliet were lovers. Their parents hated each other.
14. There wasn’t any directory in the phone box. I was phoning from this box.
15. This is Mr Jones. His son won the championship last year.
16. I was sitting on a chair. It suddenly collapsed.
17. Mr Smith said that he was too busy to speak to me. I had come especially to see him.
18. The man was sitting at the desk. I had come to see this man.
19. His girlfriend turned out to be an enemy spy. He trusted her absolutely.
20. This is the story of a man. His wife suddenly lost her memory.
21. A man brought in a small girl. Her hand had been cut by a glass.
22. We’ll have to get across the frontier. This will be very difficult.